“Twilight” author Stephenie Meyer is convinced movie critics torpedoed her sci-fi film “The Host” to “punish” her for inflicting the teen vampire series on the world.

Meyer wrote “The Host” in the aftermath of her huge success with her “Twilight” books, and it became a movie starring Saoirse Ronan, which the writer also produced.

However, the movie failed to emulate the box office glory of the hugely popular Twilight franchise following its release in March, taking $48 million internationally, a fraction of the first vampire film’s $393 million total in 2008.

Meyer believes The Host’s negative reviews impacted its box office takings, and she is adamant critics only trashed the film to get back at her for the success of “Twilight.”

She tells USA Today, “The sad thing is ‘The Host’ got punished for ‘Twilight.’ There was such a stigma from ‘Twilight.’ And because I had done ‘The Host,’ it got trashed in the reviews. We got kicked around for ‘Twilight.’ The reviews are not reflective of the film itself. You could write whatever trash you wanted to write about ‘Twilight,’ it could take it. So I kind of felt sad, I felt like the poor little Host was being picked on… People are going onto iTunes and asking, ‘Why are the reviews of the movie so bad, the movie is really good.’”

In another interview with Variety.com, Meyer goes on to admit she is determined to move away from her popular vampire creation, adding, “I get further away every day. I am so over it. For me, it’s not a happy place to be.”